Ore-separator.



PATENTED NOV. 28, 1905:

L. J. VANDERVOORT.

ORE SEPARATOR.

APPLIGATION FILED JUNE 9. 1906.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOIS J VANDERVOORT, OF GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA TERRITORY.

ORE-SEPARATOR- I Patented Nov. 28, 1905.

Application filed June 9,1905. Serial No, 264,447.

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LoIs J. VANDERVOORT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Guthrie, in the county of Logan and Territory of Oklahoma, have invented new and useful Improvements in Ore-Separators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is a dry separator of the pneumatic type particularly adapted for the separation of gold and in which the auriferous earth is fed down a chute provided with oppositely-extending rifle-boards over which a current of air is blown, and having pipes leading from the chute, which pipes are also provided with rifles to catch any ore which may be blown over from the chute.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of the separator. Fig. 2 is an end elevation thereof.

Referring specifically to the drawings, 6 indicates a supporting-framefor the machine.

.Mounted upon this is a vertical chute or cas ing 7, having at the top a hopper 8, from which the earth is delivered to the chute through a feed valve or gate 9. This gate may be of any desired construction, but preferably the construction disclosed in my United States Patent No. 801,349, dated October 10, 1905. Within the chute below the hopper are a series of oppositely-inclined rifle boards 10, having rifles 11 thereon. Boards 12 serve to support the rifleboards and also to contract the passage through the chute to confine the currents of air. At the bottom the chute discharges onto a pan 13, having ore-pockets 14 extending transversely across the same. Leading from the chute are a series of discharge-pipes 15. The upper pipe taps the chute directly under the hopper and above the first rifle-board. The intermediate pipe opens into the chute opposite and below the lower end of the second rifleboard, and the lower pipe opens directly above the pan 13 and below the edge of the lowest rifle-board. Each of these pipes has an upwardly-inclined portion next the chute connecting to a downwardly-inclined portion of greater length, as indicated at 16, by elbows, as at' 17, and the pipes all join to a common waste-discharge at 18. The downwardly-inclined portions 16 of the pipes have rifles 19 extending transversely across the same, below which are doors 20, which may be opened to remove any metal collected under the rifles.

21 indicates a rotary fan, the casing 22 of which opens through the ore-pan 13 and into the lower end of the chute.

Doors 24 are provided in the casing of the chute, so that the rifles can be got at and the metal removed therefrom. In operation the auriferous earth is fed from the hopper down into the chute, and the fan being in o eration it falls through the currents of air de ivered from the fan-casing up through the chute, the heavier metal being caught in the rifles on the rifle-boards or in the pockets of the pan 13 and the lighter waste being blown out through the pipes 15. The upwardly-inclined portions of the pipes 15 serve to a large extent to prevent any valuable matter being carried over beyond the elbows of the pipes, although if any is carried over it will be caught by the rifles in the downwardly-inclined portions of the pipes. The opposite arrangement of the rifle-boards causes a thorough distribution of particles, so that the air has access to all parts of the material and an eifective separation is produced.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an ore-separator, in combination, an upright chute down through which ore is fed, a series of rifle-boards therein, over which the ore flows, a collecting pan under the lower end of the chute, upwardly-inclined pipes leading from one side of the chute, the mouth of the lowest pipe being at one side of the pan, and a fan having an air-duct entering said chute at the bottom, on the opposite side of the pan, and arranged to produce a blast up through the chute and into the said p The combination with an upright orechute and means to produce a blast through the same and to collect the concentrate therein, of a series of discharge-pipes from one side of the chute, said pipes each having an upwardly-inclined portion next the chute, and each having a separate downwardly-inclined portion beyond with rifles therein.

3. The combination, in an ore-separator, of an upright chute down which the ore falls,

and having inclined riflle-boards therein, a the receiver, so as to produce a blast across 10 receiver for concentrate, under the lower end the receiver.

of the chute, a series of upwardly-inclined In testimony whereof I have signed my discharge-pipes opening from the side of the name to this specification in the presence of chute at difierent heights therein, the mouth two subscribing witnesses.

of the lowest pipe being at one edge of the re- LOIS J. VANDERVOORT. ceiver, and a fan having an air-duct opening Witnesses: into the chute below the mouths of the said M. LUTHERWEsT,

discharge-pipes and at the opposite edge of JNo. DENNING. 

